


Just a Photo Op

by allywonderland



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, F/M, Gen, Genderbending, Post-Canon, Rule 63, post-book 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-29
Updated: 2012-08-29
Packaged: 2017-11-13 03:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allywonderland/pseuds/allywonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurron's still not sure what kind of relationship they have, and everyone else's confusion doesn't help the matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just a Photo Op

”We really should get up.”

The early sun cast a dim square of light onto the floor, and Thanh Ha walked two fingers across Kurron’s chest lightly.

Kurron shifted in the bed, mumbling, not yet coherent.

“Come on.”

“Nnnnnghno.”

Thanh Ha sighed dramatically.  “We should.”

“Why though.”

“Because—” she reached an arm lazily over Kurron and stretched “—we have that photo op today.”

“Press interview,” Kurron corrected for the hundredth time, eyes clenched shut in a futile effort to remain asleep.

“Photo op.”

“It’s an inter—”

“It’s a photo op and if you correct me one more time I’ll leave you all alone with the reporters and you’ll fumble and mess up and be the most awkward Avatar ever and I won’t care at all.”

Kurron snorted. “You would.”

“I most definitely would.” Thanh Ha grinned, then extricated herself from around Kurron and stretched again, her back popping softly.  Kurron groaned and smacked a hand over his forehead, dragging it slowly down his face.

“I hate mornings.”

“I do too,” Thanh Ha said.

“I hate reporters.”

“That’s because you’re a barely eighteen-year-old from the South Pole who spent his entire life around a population of maybe fifteen.”

Kurron grimaced and didn’t take her bait.  “I hate mornings.”

Thanh Ha rolled her eyes and stood, the bed creaking at the movement.  “Honestly, I know the morning is evil, but even _I’m_ better than you at it.”

Kurron shot an accusatory finger in the general direction of her voice.  “That is a lie and you know it.”

She scoffed.  “I’m still better than you.”

“You’re only getting up because you love having your picture taken.”

“And I’m not sorry one bit.”

Kurron threw his pillow over at her and when he heard the thud and the sharp laugh he knew he had missed.

As usual.

(He didn’t particularly care.)

When finally, finally Kurron was awake and conscious and functioning (mostly) (honestly, mostly) (it’s not a lie) and up, Thanh Ha hopped out his window and snuck through the outskirts of the men’s dormitories, Kurron watching her before heading to the main dining hall, stopping to visit Naga good morning on the way.  They met there and lounged until Pema came down with Rohan and Ikki and Kurron offered to help while Thanh Ha stayed as out of the way as possible as more people came down.  It didn’t stop Jinora and Ikki from unashamedly staring at her with barely-hidden intrigue and distaste, but at least Tenzin and the adults were courteous enough to not confront her when she came, instead saving their questions and what they surely thought was good natured concern to bombard Kurron with later.

And when breakfast was over, exactly as Kurron predicted, Tenzin asked him for a word quietly (but without room for dissent), glancing over at Than Ha by the window as she pretended to not notice it.

“Kurron I sincerely hope you believe when I say that I do this out of concern,” he was saying, standing formally (stiffly) while Kurron shadow boxed alternately with air and fire, “but I still don’t like the amount of time you spend with Tha—that... Wolf-Bat girl.”

“You’ve said that maybe a hundred times before.  Probably more, actually.”  Two punches in quick succession, then a reverse hook kick, and repeat.

Tenzin sighed.  “Perhaps because repetition is the best way to learn something.”

“Tenzin, I don’t—”

“Kurron, _please_ look at me when I’m speaking to you.”

Kurron huffed, spun out a small gust of air with one final punch, then stood and faced Tenzin.

“There’s still so much left to be done in the city—” Tenzin said, arms out from his cloak and gesturing animatedly.

“I know, Tenzin.”

“And you have a duty to perform as the Avatar.”

“Yeah, and I’m performing it.”

“I simply—” Tenzin scowled, halting his hands in the air, and then his shoulders slumped.  “I worry that Thanh Ha is nothing more than a distraction for you.”

“I—” Kurron stopped, sighed.  It was too complicated for him explain.

(It was too complicated for him to figure out, most of the time.)

“I technically had a duty to her, too.”

“And you’ve done more than fulfill it, Kurron,” Tenzin said gently, placing his hands on his shoulders.  “People are... I’m not the only one who’s concerned.  Mako and Bolin are as well.  Asami, too.”

‘Concern’ was probably the wrong word to use, Kurron thought, but then—how could he describe it?

None of them had seen Thanh Ha at the police station (well, Lin and Tenzin, but Tenzin still thought of her as ‘The Cheating Wolf-Bat’ and Lin was pointedly not taking an interest in it) the first time she had said _‘Hey, Kurron.’_ and he knew he’d never call her ‘Prissy Girl’ again.

None of them had _lost_ their bending (Lin, of course, the exception again).

None of them were the recipients of all the impossible hope of Republic City’s benders, hope that had overwhelmed him in the commodification of his new skill when he had first returned to the city and rashly let out the news of his new skill before Tenzin had stepped in and demanded, without question, an orderly, paced method for Kurron to return the bending of those who wanted it (and the unnecessary consideration had been... unnecessary, obviously, since everyone had wanted their bending back).

Thanh Ha had never commodified him with that impossible hope.

Which was why, when she voluntarily came to talk to him after, teammates in apprehensive tow, saying “Hey, Avatar” and _dismissing_ her teammates, he had nodded, and allowed her to join him, and listened to her silence.

And allowed her again.

And again.

And when he asked her to come back to Air Temple Island, she hadn’t even flinched at Mako and Bolin’s stunned faces.

Tenzin looked at him long and imploring, and when he opened his mouth Kurron saw, in his eyes, the question that would follow, or maybe this was the question Kurron had been waiting for someone to ask ever since Thanh Ha’s first night on the island.  “Are you—”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Kurron said, too quickly, and Tenzin didn’t miss his rush to cover up the full question.

“‘It’?”

“Yes.”

Tenzin sighed again, and after a small eternity of silence, shook his head and left Kurron on the pavilion.

Afterwards on the ferry to the mainland, Naga saddled and geared up, Thanh Ha was quiet, leaning back against the boat railings with her arms over the side.

“I hate mornings,” she said.

“Hah!”  Kurron punched her arm and Thanh Ha rolled an eye ominously at him.  “Told you it would catch up.”

“Shut up.  I hate mornings.  Ming’s going to be picking me up and Shaozu will probably be there too.”

Which translated, of course, to ‘Don’t try to talk to them, or else.’

“Hm.”  Kurron slung an arm over the edge of the boat and pulled and bent the water absentmindedly as they sped along, deciding to test his luck.  “They don’t mind you staying over?”

“Do they ever?”

“You know what I mean.”

“It’s off-season.”

“Still not exactly what I meant.”

Thanh Ha huffed and didn’t say anything, her usual, typical response when Kurron prodded for more details of her personal life (her _actual_ personal life, not the one plastered so wide across Republic City that it was common knowledge for most of its citizens), so Kurron let his breath out in a short puff, relenting, and, in what was actually _not_ his usual, typical response, dropped the subject and didn’t pry.  “Right, so, I’m filing this away as a ‘yes’ and also under ‘you being difficult again’.”

“I’m always difficult, Avatar.”

At the harbour Ming was already there with Shaozu, car ready to go, so Thanh Ha left without another word, leaving Kurron to take Naga to the police headquarters where Lin would prep him for handling the press.

(Despite Kurron’s protests, it really was just a photo op, in the end.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is in heartfelt dedication to both [quillery](http://quillery.tumblr.com) and [operaisnotjustforoldpeople](operaisnotjustforoldpeople); [operaisnotjustforoldpeople](operaisnotjustforoldpeople) for beta-reading and being my sound board late into the night, and [quillery](http://quillery.tumblr.com) for drawing the art that originally inspired this.
> 
> The story behind this goes: [quillery]() drew [some fantastic art](http://quillery.tumblr.com/post/28469432970/tahna-and-korro-posing-for-a-photo-after-being) of genderbent Tahno and Korra and I absolutely had to fic it (and she then drew [even more fantastic art](http://quillery.tumblr.com/post/28509378333/just-a-photo-op) to go with the fic), and this is the edited and extended result I'm happy with for archiving.
> 
> 'Kurron' for Korra's genderbent name was inspired by [this](http://askchibikorra.tumblr.com/post/24927318079/you-guys-look-at-this-beautiful-dub-done) and it's been stuck in my head since. I used 'Thanh Ha' for Tahno's alternative name because while the fandom tends to use 'Tahna', I felt that simply changing an 'oh' sound to an 'ah' sound was too much of an English-based linguistic tool and I wanted to use something a bit more appropriate for the Asian-based world of _Legend of Korra_. Thanh Ha is a Vietnamese girl's name meaning 'teal river' and I felt it was perfect both in meaning and in closeness to canon.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!


End file.
